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McDonald's Fires Egg Producer

McDonald's announced on Friday it will no longer be buying eggs from Sparboe Farms, the nation's fifth largest egg producer, in light of an investigation into the company that has resulted in serious charges being brought by the Food and Drug Administration.  Saprboe Farms, meanwhile, is the sunject of an ABC News investigation that will be aired Friday on “20/20” and “World News with Diane Sawyer.”

In response to last year's salmonella outbreak, in which hundreds of Americans were infected by eggs, the FDA issued new rules for egg farms to prevent future outbreaks.  Since the rules were enacted, the FDA says, Sparboe has been found guilty of at least 13 violations at five different locations.  Former FDA food safety chief David Acheson, currently serving as an industry consultant, noted that the widespread instances of violations indicate a systemic problem within Sparboe's operations, not just an isolated problem at one facility.

Included in ABC's investigative report will be undercover video surveillance taken over the summer inside Sparboe's facilities in three states.  The video was collected by an animal rights group called Mercy for Animals, who claim the footage shows repeated acts of animal cruelty and unsanitary conditions.  Prior to today's announcement, Sparboe had supplied the eggs for all McDonald's restaurants west of the Mississippi River.

In a statement, McDonald's said it was ending its relationship with Sparboe over concerns about the management of the company's facilities.  “McDonald's expects all of our suppliers to meet our stringent requirements for delivering high quality food prepared in a humane and responsible manner,” read the company's statement.

The Mercy for Animals activist who went undercover to obtain the damning footage told ABC News that he witnessed horrible treatment of animals in Sparboe facilities, including birds being thrown, choked, and slammed into cages and elsewhere.  Sparboe executives claim that the acts depicted in the video are not indicative of standard operating procedure at its facilities, and that all employees seen abusing chickens in the footage have been fired.  They also point out that the company has never had a single incident in which eggs or chickens were found to be carrying salmonella.

Last year's outbreak of salmonella infected more than 1,9000 people across the country and was traced back to a different egg farmer's operations in Iowa, Wright County Eggs.  As a result of the outbreak, more than 500 million eggs were destroyed and the incident sparked a nationwide scare over the safety of mass-produced eggs.  Salmonella is actually not a concern with eggs as long as the yolk and white are cooked thoroughly enough that both are hard, but the bacteria can survive in over-easy eggs or when the eggs are used in a recipe.  A large number of the people infected in last year's outbreak were actually infected when eating custard at a California catering hall that used eggs from Wright County Eggs.